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Russian lens aperture click
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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 5:26 pm    Post subject: Russian lens aperture click Reply with quote
My Helios 44-2 arrived today. It looks to be in excellent condition and I can't wait to try getting some swirly bokeh. This is my 2nd Russian lens, the other being an Industar 50 f/3.5. Both of the lenses have smooth aperture movements without the "click" I'm used to in most lenses. Was this the way they were manufactured or did they both lose their click ballbearing somewhere along the way?


PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The 44-2 is a two ring preset.

http://www.tremyfoel.co.uk/photography/tmount/t-mount.html#preset

if I remember right the stop ring is spring loaded - pull it away from the mount.


PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My 44-2 is of the preset type. The ring with which you (pre)set the aperture has clicks (quite stiff actually) but the ring that closes/opens the aperture is of course clickless. The later 44M has the newer more familiar desing with a single aperture ring (with clickstops) and auto aperture mechanism.


PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 6:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the replies! I hadn't noticed the preset ring. And yes, it is fairly stiff. I'll just leave the preset at f/16 so I have full control over the aperture. I'm not sure why it would have the smooth aperture control AND the preset. Can someone explain the logic behind that design? Thanks in advance.


PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Roka wrote:
I'm not sure why it would have the smooth aperture control AND the preset. Can someone explain the logic behind that design? Thanks in advance.

The idea is to set your desired f-stop on the preset ring and then turn the aperture ring to fully open during focusing (to have the viewfinder as bright as possible) and just before tripping the shutter, you turn the aperture ring all the way to its preset value.
The aperture ring is meant to be in either one of its end points (fully open or fully closed), and the preset ring ensures that you get the f-stop you want when setting the ring to "fully closed".
The purpose of the smooth action is to make stopping down as quick and easy as possible (since it is done by the photographer himself).


PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
sceptic wrote:
Roka wrote:
I'm not sure why it would have the smooth aperture control AND the preset. Can someone explain the logic behind that design? Thanks in advance.

The idea is to set your desired f-stop on the preset ring and then turn the aperture ring to fully open during focusing (to have the viewfinder as bright as possible) and just before tripping the shutter, you turn the aperture ring all the way to its preset value.
The aperture ring is meant to be in either one of its end points (fully open or fully closed), and the preset ring ensures that you get the f-stop you want when setting the ring to "fully closed".
The purpose of the smooth action is to make stopping down as quick and easy as possible (since it is done by the photographer himself).


OK, now I get it. That's actually pretty useful. I end up doing basically the same thing on a couple of my other lenses when I need to stop down for DOF reasons but the resulting view in my EVF is too dim for focusing. Thanks for the explanation!
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